German-Canadian Studies

Activities of the Chair

Learn about courses the chair teaches teaches in Canadian and World History

Social Media:

The Chair in German-Canadian Studies disseminates information about its program and German-Canadian research more broadly through its Facebook site, German-Canadian Studies Blog, and Migration News site.

Social media sites replaced the German-Canadian Studies Newsletter, which ceased publication in 2010. Visit the archive of electronic copies of the newsletter.

Fellowship Program:

Numerous scholarships, grants, and prizes for university and community research are offered by the Chair in German-Canadian Studies, made possible through the generous support of the Spletzer Family Foundation, Inc. Research is supported for a wide range of topics and various fields of study that are related to German-Canadian historiography and culture. Past community researchers have included film makers, K-12 school groups, and private researchers.

Conferences:

The Chair has been involved in organizing and participating in conferences related to ethnic and German-Canadian studies.  The Chair organized two international conference-workshops:

"Borderlands and Transnationalism: New Perspectives on Immigration in Canada and the United States”

An international workshop at Glendon College, York University, Toronto, Ontario from 19 to 20 October 2012, supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. 

Assimilation, Integration, Acculturation? The German-Canadian Case

An international workshop at the Inn at the Forks in Winnipeg, Manitoba from August 26 to 29, 2004. Supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. Published as Alexander Freund, ed., Beyond the Nation? Immigrants' Local Lives in Transnational Cultures (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012).

German-Canadian Identity: Methods and Results

An international workshop at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, from October 4 through 6, 1996. Sponsored by the German-Canadian Studies Foundation Inc. and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), New York Office. Published as Angelika E. Sauer and Matthias Zimmer, eds. _A Chorus of Different Voices: German-Canadian Identities_ (New York: Lang, 1998).

Public Lecture Series:

The Chair invites speakers from a variety of fields and professions to talk about or present topics related to German-Canadian Studies. 

Presentations:

The Chair gives presentations at conferences and other events across the country and internationally.

Canada Council Diefenbaker Award:

The Chair in German-Canadian Studies, in partnership with the History Department and the Oral History Centre, has twice hosted a Diefenbaker Fellow. 

2012: Dr. Alexander von Plato

2004: Dr. Christiane Harzig

Publications:

Recent publications in the field of German-Canadian Studies include:

Alexander Freund, Aufbrüche nach dem Zusammenbruch: Die deutsche Nordamerikaauswanderung nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg. (Studien zur Historischen Migrationsforschung, vol. 12, ed. Klaus J. Bade). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht unipress, 2004

Alexander Freund, “Contesting the Meanings of Migration: German Women’s Immigration to Canada in the 1950s,: Canadian Ethnic Studies 41-42/3-1 (2009-2010 [2012]): 1-26

Alexander Freund, "Migração, memória e identidade: relatos de história oral no contexto de histórias familiares e nacionais," in: Antonio T. Montenegro, Marcos F. F. Montysuma, Geni R. Duarte, Méri Frotscher, Robson Laverdi (Org.), História Oral, Desigualdades e Diferenças (Recife: EdUFPE; Florianópolis: EdUFSC, 2012).

Alexander Freund, “Representing ‘New Canadians’: Competing Narratives about Recent German Immigrants to Manitoba,” Journal of Mennonite Studies 30 (2012): 339-361

Alexander Freund, with Angela Thiessen, “Mary Brockmeyer’s Wedding Photo,” in Alexander Freund and Alistair Thomson, eds., Oral History and Photography (New York: Palgrave, 2011), 27-44.

Alexander Freund, “Familienforschung und Lokalgeschichte: Oral History im kanadischen Deutschunterricht” Forum Deutsch 19.1 (2011) (http://www.forumdeutsch.ca/de/unterrichstforum/familienforschung_und_lokalgeschichte_oral_history_im_kanadischen_deutschunterricht

Alexander Freund, “A Canadian Family Talks About Oma’s Life in Nazi Germany: Three-Generational Interviews and Communicative Memory,” Oral History Forum d’histoire orale 29 (2009), Special Issue “Remembering Family, Analyzing Home: Oral History and the Family," 1-26.

Alexander Freund, “Die Auswanderung aus Nachkriegsdeutschland,” Aufbruch nach Amerika, 1709-2009: 300 Jahre Massenauswanderung aus Rheinland-Pfalz (Kaiserslautern: Referat Kultur der Stadt Kaiserslautern, [2009]), 81-92.

Alexander Freund, “A German Post-1945 Diaspora? German Migrants’ Encounters with the Nazi Past,” in: Mathias Schulze et al., eds., German Diasporic Experiences: Identity, Migration, and Loss (Waterloo, ON: Wilfried Laurier University Press, 2008), 467-78.

Alexander Freund, “Troubling Memories in Nation-building: World War II-Memories and Germans’ Interethnic Encounters in Canada After 1945.” In: Histoire sociale/Social History 39/77 (May 2006): 129-155.

Alexander Freund, “How Come They’re Nice to Me?” Deutsche und Juden nach dem Holocaust in Nordamerika, in: Christiane Harzig, ed., Migration und Erinnerung. Reflexionen über Wanderungserfahrungen in Europa und Nordamerika (Transkulturelle Perspektiven, vol. 4) (Göttingen: v&r unipress 2006).

Alexander Freund, “’Where were you während des Kriegs?’ Kriegserzählungen deutscher Migranten in Nordamerika seit 1945,” [‘Where Were You During the War?’ War Stories of German Immigrants in North America Since 1945”] in: Christer Petersen, ed., Zeichen des Krieges in Literatur, Film und den Medien, Vol. 1: Nordamerika und Europa [Signs of War in Literature, Film, and Media, vol. 1: North America and Europe] Kiel: Verlag Ludwig, 2004, 31-67

Alexander Freund, “German Immigrants and the Nazi Past: How Memory Has Shaped Intercultural Relations,” Inroads. A Journal of Public Opinion No. 15 (Summer/Fall 2004): 106-117.

Alexander Freund, “Die letzte Phase des industriellen nordatlantischen Migrationssystems: Das Beispiel der deutsch-kanadischen Arbeitswanderung in den 1950er Jahren.“ In: Deutschkanadisches Jahrbuch/German-Canadian Yearbook 17 (2002 [2003]): 1-36.